Unless Buzzfeed-style Clickbait Replaces all Forms of Human Communication, or Republicans Return to the White House, Listeners will Continue to Deal with the Smug Dread Generated by the Formulaic Endings of NPR Stories

I love some good meta. I wrote a dialogue-heavy short story about writing dialogue-driven short stories. Mark C. Marino wrote this excllent MPR-style essay about the formulaic endings of NPR stories, which are designed to leave you feeling smarter but emptier, so that you return to fill your pledge-drive mug with another dose of First World Problems angst.

And although I cannot answer that question, one thing is for certain: unless it’s de-funded in some future wave of Congressional backlash against public media, NPR will continue to have the final word in broad-spectrum news coverage. And it won’t be easy. Mark C. Marino, Medium.com